Van Canto are back with what is perhaps their most ambitious release to date – a vocal metal musical in the form of a fourteen-track album that has an accompanying mediabook to tell the story.
Although it’s perhaps a fair call to open the album with a spoken prologue, after a minute it admittedly begins to drag and my interest begins to waver, which isn’t really the best start, but thankfully it picks up for the first ‘proper’ track, Clashings On Armour Plates. It begins with a choral vocal approach before progressing into the more ‘standard’ Van Canto style and admittedly whilst it doesn’t bring anything new to the table, it’s a powerful opening and sets the scene well for things to come, with further highlights including Battleday’s Dawn, a fast-paced and hard-hitting number, and The Bardcall, which features some seriously catchy supporting vocals and a chorus you can’t help but want to sing along to.
Unfortunately, it is a little difficult to follow the story of the musical itself. Although perhaps this may be aided by the companion mediabook, Voices Of Fire just plays like an album – and whilst it’s a pretty good album, I’m not sure if that’s what Van Canto were aiming to achieve with it.
7/10
